SECT. XXXVII. CONCLUSION. 427 



taining the dimensions of the solar system, and provides an 

 invariable foundation for a system of weights and measures. The 

 mutual attraction of the celestial bodies disturbs the fluids at 

 their surfaces, whence the theory of the tides and of the oscilla- 

 tions of the atmosphere. The density and elasticity of the air, 

 varying with every alternation of temperature, lead to the con- 

 sideration of barometrical changes, the measurement of heights, 

 and capillary attraction ; and the doctrine of sound, including the 

 theory of music, is to be referred to the small undulations of the 

 aerial medium. A knowledge of the action of matter upon light 

 is requisite for tracing the curved path of its rays through the 

 atmosphere, by which the true places of distant objects are deter- 

 mined, whether in the heavens or on the earth. By this we learn 

 the nature and properties of the sunbeam, the mode of its propa- 

 gation through the ethereal medium, or in the interior of material 

 bodies, and the origin of colour. By the eclipses of Jupiter's 

 satellites the velocity of light is ascertained ; and that velocity, 

 in the aberration of the fixed stars, furnishes a direct proof of 

 the real motion of the earth (N. 237). The effects of the invisible 

 rays of the spectrum are immediately connected with chemical 

 action ; and heat, forming a part of the solar ray, so essential to 

 animated and inanimated existence, is too important an agent in 

 the economy of creation not to hold a principal place in the con- 

 nexion of physical sciences ; whence follows its distribution in 

 the interior and over the surface of the globe, its power on the 

 geological convulsions of our planet, its influence on the atmos- 

 phere and on climate, and its effects on vegetable and animal life, 

 evinced in the localities of organized beings on the earth, in the 

 waters, and in the air. The correlation between molecular and 

 chemical action, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, is con- 

 tinually becoming more perfect, and there is every reason to 

 believe that these different modes of force, as well as gravity 

 itself, will ultimately be found to merge in one great and universal 

 power. Many more instances might be given in illustration of 

 the immediate connexion of the physical sciences, most of which 

 are united still more closely by the common bond of analysis, 

 which is daily extending its empire, and will ultimately embrace 

 almost every subject in nature in its formulae. 



These formulas, emblematic of Omniscience, condense into a 



